Monday, April 13, 2009

"....it's a different mentality here in Bend...."

From the Bulletin story on Stars. "The fact of the matter is, whether you accept it or not, there is a different mentality here in Bend," (Stars owner) Randy Kaiser said. "It's a different culture, and I can't explain it."

Heh.

Hah.

I could say, "Finally! Someone gets it!!"

What I've always said about Bend, it has a thin veneer of civilization, overlaying a redneck town.

Not that there's anything wrong with it.

I had a discussion with a relative newcomer, (hey, anyone here less than 20 years...) and I said, "You'd think that Bend being such a small (13,000), blue collar town back then could be hard on those who are different, that there might be small town judgment and gossip, but that's not what I remember.

"What I remember was a kind of "live and let live" mentality. A kind of surprising acceptance of people's differences. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was very racially accepting -- I don't think it was. But if you were a resident of Bend, there was a wide acceptance."

I should add, as long as you didn't push it. You wouldn't want to sashay past some of the bars on Bond at 2:00 in the morning....

What I remember from most of the bars back then was country and or rock music. Lots of drinking, and probably a whole lot of scuffles and driving around drunk. (It was a different world back then.)

I remember how different it felt to come back to downtown Bend after living in Eugene for college, and seeing how everyone dressed down. No one lived ostentatiously, it seems to me.

It wasn't cool.

Anyway, that's what I remember, for what it's worth. I can't totally vouch for it's accuracy. It's from a kid's perspective.

9 comments:

You couldn't have hit the nail more squarely on the head. In a few, short sentences, that's Bend!

And the people that just see the veneer, and don't dig a little deeper (whether it be into the job scene, climate, cost of living, culture,etc.), won't make it here. They move here based on a misperception.

Many of the countless magazine articles describe that veneer to a tee. And the locals (or the newbies that did dig past it and are able to adjust to what lies underneath) will make it.

Let's understand here for three months the folks at Starz have been advertising that this month little 'Tina' a 3 ft porn midget is coming to Bend. That is the highlight of the year, there have been ad's and pic the Source all season including this weekend.

Yes, I concur Bend is difference. BT Barnum different a sucker is born more often in Bend than any where else.

So Starz is 'inflation-adverse' with the Porn Midget Body Mechanics here in Bend.

But what about the rest of Bend? Oh, yea across the street from Deschtues Brew Pub, was "The Grove", is now a place with a Las-Vegas Pole Act. If we're really lucky we can get "Little Tina's" sister to move here and be a regular downtown Bend attraction.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say it was very racially accepting -- I don't think it was."

It wasn't. The first summer after I arrived here in 1985 I went with my family to see a Bend Phillies game at Vince Genna Stadium. A couple of drunk rednecks were in the box next to us talking about one of the players, a black guy. "Last season he played first base but now they got him in the outfield," said one. "Yeah, they like it out in the field -- the corn field, the cotton field," said another. Hoots of laughter.

I THINK things have gotten a little better in the ensuing 24 years, but there's still plenty of racism out there -- especially against Hispanics. I hear it all the time.

Eugene is the most dressed-down place (or perhaps poorly-dressed place) I've ever seen outside a 3rd world country. Far more dressed-down than (current) Bend. If you think Bend was dressed down back then compared to Eugene, what were you wearing? Freshly-killed dessert squirrel skins?

The one thing I find interesting, is the fact that the Bulletin is getting thinner and thinner, yet the Source seems to be the same thickness. I'm wondering/thinking that perhaps there are more liberal/alternative minded folks here now...and they are supporting the best media outlet for their products...too bad the Bulletin is not more "live and let live" in their editorial views...though the opposite view does not seem to have any effect on the Source. Hmm. Interesting, no? I'd guess it just doesn't matter, as Bill Murray;s mantra in Meatballs went. Or does it?

About Me

I'm Duncan McGeary, owner and/or operator for the last 33 years of Pegasus Books in Downtown Bend, Oregon. These days I'm writing books as well as selling them.
I'm the comic book guy. But even more so, I'm a book book guy. Books of all kinds. Big books and little books, children's and adult, fiction and non-fiction, hardback and paperback and trade paperback and graphic novels. Books with more words than pictures and books with more pictures than words. They are all part of the book world to me, and I love being surrounded by them every day.
I also have a second blog: Pegasus Books, where I list the product coming in over the next week.